Lost and Found
by Author1998
Summary: "So, this is what it's like. Dark hallways, dark rooms. Eyes following wherever you step, and hands ready to grab you if you make any sudden movements. Hunched over people, people who are supposedly just like me, with an expression that tells you they just gave up." AU


**-ANNABETH-**

So, this is what it's like.

Dark hallways, dark rooms. Eyes following wherever you step, and hands ready to grab you if you make any sudden movements. Hunched over people, people who are supposedly just like me, with an expression that tells you they just gave up.

These people are _not _like me. No one knows what I've been through, so why do they try to understand?

"Here you go. Chase, Annabeth, right?" the man leading me to my room asks, flashing me a smile.

I don't smile back. Instead, I nod. The quicker I was alone, the better. Then I could try to figure out what I was going to do to escape this place, because I have no plans to stay. They can smile and sound all upbeat, but at the end of the day, they're going to be just as defeated as the rest of us. They can make me spill my whole story, well, they can try, but even if they succeeded, what's to say they would understand?

"Here's your room. Be sure to let me know if you need anything," he says, then gestures for me to enter a room. It's about the size of a dorm room, you could say, and also very dark.

The door closes behind me, and I'm all alone.

That is, until a shadow shifts in the corner.

"Who are you?" a voice growls. Blue eyes appear through the darkness, piercing and glinting dangerously.

I stand my ground. I'm Annabeth Chase, I don't _get scared. _

"No one," I snap back.

It's a girls voice. "Good answer, you'll fit right in."

A small lamp is turned on, and now I can make out the person who the blue eyes belong to.

She's about my height, with spiky black hair and punk clothes. She has the same look in her eye that the rest of the kids in this place do, but I'm not threatened or afraid. I've seen it every time I've looked in the mirror.

**-THALIA-**

The girl has guts, I'll hand that to her, but she's going to have to have those if she wants to survive two minutes in this place. Her blonde hair is pulled back into a loose pony tail, and I can feel her gray eyes analyzing me carefully.

"I didn't know I was going to have a roommate," she finally said. Her voice had a sharp edge to it, as if daring me to challenge her.

"You don't know a lot of things," I reply. She's going to have to learn her place, and the sooner the better. I've been here at The Academy for two years, and I learned my lessons the hard way.

She doesn't speak again. Instead, she walks over to the other bed.

"There used to be another girl here," I supply the information I know she was wondering. "She didn't last long."

**-LEO-**

So I did some bad things in the past. So I've made some decisions that weren't the best.

Apparently that means that I get to pay for the next four years of my life.

The first thing I notice when I walk in; the online pictures are _so _off. On the website, everything is all bright and cheerful. This place is the exact opposite.

There isn't a window in sight. Everything is shady and suspicious looking, at least, everything besides the white-clad assistants who are roaming the halls, smiling at everything that passes. How those people smile so much, I have no idea. All I know is I don't belong here.

"Valdez, Leo," a man says. I whirl around, and he's beaming at me so wide, I'm blinded by his white teeth.

"Mmm?" I don't really want to have a conversation. All the people in this place look about my age, but they're all starting to give me the creeps with the dead look in their eyes. I can feel everyone staring at me as I walk past, and it makes sense. All of them are dressed in dark clothes, with hoods pulled up and hands stuffed in their pockets. I'm wearing a t-shirt that says 'YOLO' on it, some bright yellow shorts, and my favorite hat.

"We're going to have to confiscate your clothing," the assistant who was leading me says, as if reading my mind. "Here in The Academy, we believe in sameness. That is, everyone wears the same stuff. You can change once we reach your room."

"I don't understand why I'm here," I try to protest. All these teenagers look like they're seconds from jumping on me and stabbing me repeatedly with a knife.

"You will once you go to class," he says, and I begin to dread finding out whatever 'class' could be.

This place is looking more and more like another place I gotta jump. For now, though, I'd better act innocent. There's no way I could make an escape with this guy watching.

The Academy. This place gave people nightmares. They say people have been shot trying to make it out. They say people have gone crazy. They say the people who actually do make it out with their sanity are never the same.

And then there's me, Leo Valdez. Like I said before, I know I've done some pretty stupid stuff in the past, but that didn't mean I had to go here. This place was for the worst of the worst. I'm not one of these guys.

I notice that the assistants are all men. I don't know if this is important information or not, but I tuck it away anyway. If I'm going to get out of this place, I'm going to need to know everything I can.

The assistant leading me gestures towards a door. I open it and go in.

A tiny bit of light is coming from a lamp on a desk. There are two beds... wait, two?

"Hello," a stocky kid rises from one of the beds. "Who are you?"

I jump five feet in the air. "Sheesh, man, give a guy a warning next time."

He laughs, a bitter sound that makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand straight up.

"A warning? You aren't going to last long in here, are you?"

"Who are you?" I try to stop my voice from quivering. I didn't know I'd have to live with another guy, and this guy wasn't making me any more enthusiastic about the idea.

"Who am I as a name? Frank Zhang. Who am I as a person? Well, that's what we're all in here for, isn't it? To find ourselves?"

"I...I...guess?"

His hand reaches out, and I flinch. Instead of hitting me, though, he moves past me and shuts the door, closing off our conversation from the assistant's ears. I wonder if this is good or bad.

"Are you planning on escaping?" he says immediately. His face is somewhat Chinese, I guess, and he's taller then me. His brown eyes search mine.

"Yeah..." I wonder if it's a good idea to tell this guy anything.

He moves back and sits on a bed. Then he throws something at me.

I catch it, then drop it hastily, sure it's some kind of bomb. When I look down, I realize it's a calender.

"What's this for?" I ask.

"So you can count the days left until your release, because you aren't getting out of here until then. If you try to escape? Oh, you'll make it out alright. On a stretcher."

I gulp. Frank Zhang means business.

**-HAZEL-**

We're getting two new kids today, and I can't help but feel sorry for them. I'm not getting out of here any time soon, but to have to start back at the beginning?

The Academy isn't some Chuck E Cheese. This is where we learn that our lives are not good enough. This is where we are sent to improve ourselves, and find the real, actual good person in us. At least, that's what it's suppose to do.

Class only happens once a week. Everyone has to go to this huge area where a woman talks for an hour. It's a different woman every time.

Tomorrow we have class. I don't want to be either of the two newcomers when that happens.

My roommate, Piper, is having just about as much fun as I am. We don't often talk, but when we do, it usually circles around what's new at The Academy, because this place doesn't often change. Now we have two new kids. Piper says the last time we got new kids was seven years ago. She would know; she's been here since she was a kid.

There are many rumors about Piper McLean. Would I be able to confirm or deny any of them? No. The only thing I know about my roommate is she's been here the longest then any other kid. She's seen people go insane from this place. She's seen a lot of things.

Her eyes are shattered. The rest of us have only had that dim, defeated look. Piper has just seen too much.

Me? I'm just worried that someday, I'll have seen too much too.

This is The Academy, where troubled souls are thrown to be cleansed. Or, more accurately, destroyed for good.

**-PIPER-**

Those poor new guys. From the look on Hazel's face, I can tell she feels the same. There isn't enough words in the dictionary to describe what it's like to live here. Take it from me, I'm an expert when it comes to this place.

By some miracle, I've managed to stay sane. Or maybe it's a curse, because if getting out of this place means losing my mind, then so be it, because I can't stand it any more.

Dark rooms. Dark hallways. Whispers.

Then there's class, which is one of the worst things about this place. We are 'learning' to find ourselves. I know exactly where I am. I'm sitting in a dimly lit space, on an uncomfortable bed. The only possessions to my name are clothes and a notebook and pen, which is what everyone gets.

The notebook is meant as some sort of diary. We're forced to write in it every day. Mine is thick with text, as I've been writing in the thing since I was a kid. In fact, I've almost ran out of pages, which only means one thing.

My sentence is nearly over.

The Academy is simple, but efficient. All the new kids get a notebook, with a certain amount of pages in it, depending on how 'lost' they are. They have to fill one page a day. Exactly a page.

Once the pages are up, then they are free to go.

Of course, most people would think it would be easy to get out of here, then. You would just have to rip pages out. But bad things happen to the people who have tried to do things like that. Once, my roommate tried swallowing the pages. Three hours later the assistants came and escorted her out. I never heard from her again.

The society we live in is messed up. If you are a rebel, or do something wrong more then twice in a row, you are sent here. The Academy.

Confused?

Yeah, well, so am I. I've been hardened by this place. I'm no longer the innocent little girl I used to be.

And I never will be again.

"Piper, there's someone at the door," Hazel says quietly. "They have the password."

"Let them in," I wave my hand.

A guy peeps in. "There's a meeting for the new kids."

I sigh. "Alright."

I can feel Hazel's eyes burning into my back as I leave. I wonder what kind of story she has, and how different it could be from mine.

**-ANNABETH-**

The spiky-haired girl led me out of our room and into the hallway. She took me down some flights of stairs, around some corners, and through some hallways.

How big _was _this place?

"Where are we going?" I say, making sure my tone is hard and uncaring.

"You need your rank," she says, only confusing me more.

Finally, we make it into another room. It's a pretty large space; around the size of a high school gym. Compared to the rest of The Academy, it's really bright, and I squint, trying to get used to the light.

There are people grouped in the middle of the area, though none of them are white-clad, which tells me that all of them must be teenagers. When we walk in, everyone stops talking and turns towards me.

Another bang tells me someone else just walked in. I chance a glance back to see a stocky Chinese guy leading a shorter, skinnier guy, who looks just about as confused as I feel, only I'm not stupid enough to show it.

"Newcomers!" A guy bellows. "Welcome. You are here for us to determine your rank."

"Rank?" the other new guy has the nerve to ask. Does he know _anything _about hanging around kids like this? Keep your mouth shut and your ears open.

"Yes. I'm Percy Jackson," the guy continues. "Now start talking, and we'll determine whether you're worthy of your sanity or not."

** Soooo what do you think? Feel free to leave a review! :D Thanks for reading!**


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